


Another Happy Ending

by Perpetual Motion (perpetfic)



Category: Empire Records (1995)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-21
Updated: 2012-10-21
Packaged: 2017-11-16 18:08:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/542325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perpetfic/pseuds/Perpetual%20Motion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been an up-and-down-and-up sort of day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another Happy Ending

He beats the shit out of him because the other option involves pushing him into a wall and kissing him until he stops spouting pseudo-philosophical bullshit.

  
“You deserved that, you know.”  
  
Joe wonders what he’s done to deserve the burning want to maneuver Lucas onto his back and fuck him through the couch.  
  
When Jane asks him out to dinner, ‘yes’ is the only answer he has. Not because she’s smart, funny, and attractive, but because saying ‘no’ would have him at his apartment, Lucas a room away, and nothing but shitty television to keep him distracted.  
  
And then Mark has to fuck it up and announce a “Save the Empire” party.  
  
“I’m going to guess he’s missing the hilarity of ‘damn the man’, hmm?” Jane asks with a smile that Joe finds nice and un-enticing.  
  
“He always misses the hilarity,” Joe says in a tone to make her laugh. He catches sight of Lucas out of the corner of his eye, running by with a stack of CDs, a marker, and a small folding table under one arm. His hold on the table has caught his sweater, and there’s an inch of his stomach exposed.  
  
“Tell me something, Joe,” Jane throws a leg across his lap, and he suddenly feels pinned. “Why’d you say yes to dinner?”  
  
“Why not?” He says like he’s not terrified.  
  
Jane’s eyebrows go up, then down, and then she moves her leg. “Why not, indeed.”  
  
Joe scrambles for an answer that doesn’t give everything away. “Because you told Rex Manning to shove it. I figure that’s worth at least a dinner.”  
  
“Hmmm,” Jane says and stands up from the couch. “I’m gonna get a soda.”  
  
“Sure.” Joe watches her walk out to the front just as Lucas barrels back in, panting just a little. “Everything good?”  
  
“Sure. Yeah. I—do you have a minute, Joe?”  
  
“Yeah,” and Joe’s leading the way to his office before he actually thinks about how he should have said no. He closes the door behind them and almost smiles when Lucas looks a little nervous. “One beating a day, as needed,” he says, and Lucas smiles just a little.  
  
“Okay.” Lucas looks at his shoes. “I just wanted to say that I fucked up.” He looks at Joe and there’s a grimace behind the blankness on his face, just the barest twitch of his lip. “And I’m sorry.”  
  
“It’s handling itself.”  
  
Lucas quirks a smile at that. “Can’t believe Mark’s gonna get the credit for the fix.”  
  
“I’m not sure he’ll remember it was his idea tomorrow.” Joe watches the smile work its way across Lucas’s face and opens the door. “That it?” He says it more harshly than he wants to, but the room’s starting to feel small.  
  
There’s a painful pause before Lucas says, “Yeah. So, you know, sorry.” He says it quickly, like Joe’s about to yell at him. It makes Joe wince.  
  
“It’s not-“ Joe’s interrupted by Deb barreling into his office.  
  
“Chair,” she says before grabbing the art deco one Joe had stashed in the corner and taking off again. She slams the door behind her, and Joe gets a wave of claustrophobia. He watches Lucas shove his hands in his pockets and considers running.  
  
“You all right?”   
  
“Yeah,” Lucas looks around the office, at Joe, and then very pointedly at the door. “I’ll get out of your way.”  
  
Joe grabs Lucas’s arm as he walks past, looks him straight in the eyes and tries to see something, anything, to give him a clue. “You’re not in my way, Lucas.” He says it quietly, seriously, so that Lucas won’t try to laugh it off.  
  
“Okay,” Lucas replies, but there’s hesitance.  
  
Joe lets him go. “Go make me some money.”  
  
Lucas flees, and Joe considers banging his head against the door.  
  
*  
  
“Why do I get the feeling I’m being royally screwed, Joe?”  
  
“Because you are, Mitch.” Joe holds back most of the smile that comes with Mitchell’s pained look, but really, if he’s going to give such an easy opening, Joe’s going to take it. “There was no money in the bag,” he explains because it’s necessary, “one of my employees needed it.”  
  
“Who took it?” Mitchell twitches in a way that’s always reminded Joe strongly of a rat. “Who took my money?”  
  
“Mitch, this is some party. I mean, it’s a hell of a turnout.”  
  
No, Joe thinks as Mitchell demands Lucas’s name. Not this. Not now. He barely registers Lucas leaving Mitchell in a verbal pit. All Joe can concentrate on is not touching Lucas. Not touching his sweater, his jacket, or anything less innocuous. He’s determined to get to the end of the day with at least of shred of dignity attached.  
  
Lucas’s hand lands on his shoulder, and Joe tunes back in. Lucas is listing everyone who will be “out” once Music Town is “in”, still winding up Mitchell in a way that is almost therapeutic.  
  
“Well, I wish it had gone without saying, but you don’t seem to shut up.”  
  
It’s only his last ounce of professionalism that keeps Joe from asking if Mitchell’s met the pot he’s calling black. “What I think Lucas is trying to say,” he interjects, because he just wants out of the room, “is that I’m gonna open my own store.”  
  
“You don’t have the start up capital,” said in the know-it-all tone that’s always made Joe want to smack Mitchell straight in the face.  
  
“Yes, he does,” Lucas says immediately.  
  
“No I don’t,” Joe says to Lucas before getting into Mitchell’s face again, “But I will. I will get it.” He pauses for the pure drama of the moment. “Mitch. I quit.”  
  
And he walks away, Lucas at his side, leaving Mitchell to gape at the sudden left turn Joe knows he hates.  
  
“You were right in there,” he says to Lucas, stopping in the middle of the crowd because it feels nearly safe enough.  
  
“About what?” There’s a bare curve at the edge of Lucas’s mouth that translates his pleasure in Joe’s compliment. Joe wants to lick the curve.  
  
“About me,” he says instead. “About what I wanted to do.”  
  
“I knew you weren’t happy.”  
  
All Joe can do is stare at him for a minute, almost long enough to make it awkward. Lucas breaks eye contact, but Joe watches his face, watches the tilt of his head and the way Lucas doesn’t quite look at him straight on. It’s been a ridiculously up-and-down-and-up sort of day. Joe breathes out hard and squints at Lucas. “We need to talk.”  
  
Lucas’s face goes painfully blank. “Do we?”  
  
“Later,” Joe looks around the store. “This isn’t the right place.”  
  
“Empire’s always the right place.”  
  
That makes Joe smile, and he cuffs Lucas on the back of the head. “Come on, there’s a party going on.”  
  
Jane’s waiting at the front door, selling suspect brownies to equally suspect people. Joe presses a hand against the small of her back and leads her over to a car to watch Berko and Gina perform on the marquee.  
  
“Tell me,” Jane says as Berko breaks into the opening riff of his favorite song to play, “are we actually going to go to dinner?”  
  
“Tell me,” Joe retorts, “how you managed to work for a fake like Rex Manning for so long if you can see through people so clearly.”  
  
“He never checked the petty cash.” She smiles, and she’s beautiful in the shadowy light of the streetlamps and marquees. Joe leans in and kisses her.  
  
“Any other day,” he whispers in her ear.  
  
“Sure,” Jane whispers back, and the same smile is on her face. “Hell, any other day, and we’d be completely different people.”  
  
Joe laughs at that and looks up as the sign sparks to life. “Yeah, probably.”  
  
*  
  
The sun’s coming up as the private party finishes on the roof. They’re out of beer, chips, brownies, and energy, but no one wants to leave.  
  
“I don’t want to go home,” Corey says with a pout that usually works. “My dad sucks.”  
  
“My place smells,” AJ adds.  
  
“And we all want one last big group hug,” Deb says with a bit less sarcasm than usual. She smiles at Joe in that sweet, shy way that always surprises him. “I’ll get ‘em out of here.”   
  
“Thanks, Deb,” Joe says as he wakes up Gina and gets her to her feet. “Need any-“  
  
“I’ll help, “ Jane interrupts, taking Gina by the arm. “I should get a couple of hours before I start job hunting, anyway.”  
  
“I could use a general manager,” Joe offers, still almost-giddy about his purchase of the store. Mitchell had left the deed on his desk sometime in the wee hours.  
  
“I think I’ve had enough music in my life, lately.”  
  
That sends Mark into a long-winded, slightly insulted rant about how one can never have too much music. Joe listens to them all clamber down the stairs and turns to find Lucas sitting on the bench, arms crossed and head drooping.  
  
“We should head out,” Joe says quietly to see if he’s awake.  
  
“You wanted to talk,” Lucas half-turns, arm along the back of the bench. “So, what’s up?”  
  
Joe can hear the stress in Lucas’s voice, the worry that something bad is about to happen. Joe’s not sure if what’s about to happen will be bad or not. “We’ve known each other a long time, Lucas.”  
  
“Yeah.” Lucas smiles a little.  
  
“And I…” Joe sits next to Lucas and stares at the sunrise. He’s not sure where to carry the conversation. “I’m not having dinner with Jane.”  
  
“Ever?”  
  
“Ever.”  
  
“Oh.”  
  
Joe looks away from the sky. Lucas is still, his hands tucked into the sleeves of his sweater. “I just wanted you to know.”  
  
There’s a long minute where Lucas just stares at him. Joe waits him out, and he only starts a little when Lucas pulls up his feet and rearranges himself until his head is on Joe’s shoulder.  
  
“I’m glad.”  
  
Joe stares at the top of Lucas’s head. “That’s it?”  
  
Lucas shrugs and slides one of his hands into the pocket of Joe’s jacket. “It’s been kind of a long day, Joe.”  
  
Joe laughs a little and slides his hand over Lucas’s in his pocket. “Yeah, I noticed.”


End file.
